THE VILLAGES, Fla. (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson gave no opinion Thursday when asked about efforts by President Bush and Congress to keep Terri Schiavo alive, saying he does not remember details of the right-to-die case that stirred national debate.

Thompson was asked in an interview for Bay News 9’s “Political Connections” program whether he thought Congress’ intervention to save the life of the brain-dead woman two years ago was appropriate.

“I can’t pass judgment on it. I know that good people were doing what they thought was best,” Thompson said. “That’s going back in history. I don’t remember the details of it.”

Congress passed a bill after Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed in March 2005 to allow a federal court to review the case, and Bush returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. But a federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.

Thompson, a former Tennessee senator who left office in 2003, did say, “Local matters generally speaking should be left to the locals. I think Congress has got an awful lot to keep up with.”

Quite honestly, he’s absolutely right. Congress had no right interfering in this matter. It had no right interfering with the decisions of the judicial system in Florida, or of more than one Federal Court Judge.

The Schaivo case was, quite honestly, one of the most cravenly despicable actions that I’ve seen in American politics in my lifetime. And the fact that it was a bunch of self-righteous Republicans who were involved in it, just makes me wonder what hope there is for the GOP.

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TanGeng

Damn, I wish he had passed judgment on the stupidity of that Congress. He should have condemned that action instead of criticizing it. It was a clear violation of Federalism. It sounds good to be for federalism, but his position is rather soft and open to exceptions which then become the rule.

I think his position is horrible.

http://www.imwithfred.com Winghunter

I remember a despicable husband who openly defied Terry’s parent’s wishes to keep her alive.

The White House OR Congress had no business getting involved although, all Florida had to do was allow the joke of a husband to sign off all his responsibility to her parents and they could have chosen the time THEY were ready to say goodbye to their daughter.

Have we all lost any commonsense we were allegedly born with!?

Where the hell were our leaders to offer this reasonable and righteous solution!?

Come on folks, turn up your voices for reason!

http://www.imwithfred.com Winghunter

Hey Off-on-a-Tangent,

That’s exactly what Fred did say, idiot.

toasty

Isn’t a bit incredulous for Thompson to claim he has no memory of the Schiavo situation? Not only was that an impossible thing to miss, but Thompson personally starred in an episode of Law and Order: SVU that was one of those “ripped from the headlines” storylines that closely mirrored the Schiavo situation.

za

winghunter,

When someone gets married, both the church AND the State recognize that the spouse takes over as far as living-will rights, custody, etc are concerned. So that “despicable husband” was the person who had Terri’s life in his hands, NOT the parents.

Gus Burk

Fred is absolutly right! The feds got involved and that took the heat off the state government and allowed the state attorney general and governor to step behind the fed screed and say “we are not responsible”.
Withouut intervention from the feds Florida would have had to stand by their decision to bring about her death and to take the potential financial losses from boycotts that may have come as a result of their actions. The people of Flordia would then have been able to make a determination on whether they agreed or dis-agreed with their govenment and showed it with their votes.
Go Fred Go!

Gus Burk

Fred is absolutly right! The feds got involved and that took the heat off the state government and allowed the state attorney general and governor to step behind the fed screed and say “we are not responsible”.
Withouut intervention from the feds Florida would have had to stand by their decision to bring about her death and to take the potential financial losses from boycotts that may have come as a result of their actions. The people of Flordia would then have been able to make a determination on whether they agreed or dis-agreed with their govenment and showed it with their votes.
Go Fred Go!
HEY HILLARY! WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO VINCE FOSTER?

Bill

He was smart to feign ignorance and punt back to the local level.

No straight answer would have satisfied either side.

Seán M

Since when is murder not a top order GOP issue?

Seán M

You all seem to overlook the most important detail of the Schiavo case. The woman was NOT dying and was not ill and was not in coma. She was healthy but severely disabled young woman. This was NOT an end of life case! This young woman had a feeding tube inserted in her stomach for the convenience of her care givers, but when the tube was removed by her unfaithful husband, staff were under orders to withhold food AND WATER from her by mouth. This poor woman was willfully dehydrated to death. Food and water are not “artificial” care, they are normal maintenance of every human being on the earth, we would all die without it. The family could have kept her alive an healthy for the rest of her normal life if they were allowed, but the court barred them using the Sheriff’s deputies. This was murder no matter how you stack it, no matter how you spin it, no matter how you try to white wash it, and there will be hell to pay for it in the end.